In total, the state is handing over 6.4 million euros to the Thuringian Innovation Center for Recyclable Materials (ThIWert), which is affiliated with Nordhausen University of Applied Sciences. Established since 2018, ThIWert designs new strategies for the use of secondary raw materials and conducts research in areas such as sustainable construction, geotechnics, and bioresource management. Through new research equipment, ThIWert is enabled to intensify its activities and serve as a test balloon for material processing with supra-regional impact. In the medium term, the goal is to integrate principles of the circular economy into entrepreneurial practice. This funding highlights Thuringia's active role in the transition towards a more sustainable economy. Other participants include the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar (BUW) and the Institute for Applied Construction Research (IAB) in Weimar. The common goal is “to best prepare the next generation of professionals in the fields of circular economy and sustainable development”, according to Prof. Dr.-Ing. Robert Wudtke, head of ThIWert.
"Research Offensive Digital Mobility": The Thuringian Innovation Center for Mobility (ThIMo) can also look forward to funding of 6.4 million euros from the state. Founded back in 2011 at TU Ilmenau, ThIMo helps transfer basic research into solutions for industry. Its technical focus areas range from drive technology and plastics technology to power electronics, from which projects on electric and connected mobility emerge, for example. As part of the "Research Offensive Digital Mobility“, the latest funding is intended to specifically expand its areas of activity to include digital methods. For its work, ThIMo networks with a wide range of stakeholders and, together with the Thuringian Centers for Mechanical Engineering and for Learning Systems and Robotics, the Thuringian Institute for Textile and Plastics Research, and the Bauhaus University Weimar, advances the "Research Offensive Digital Mobility“. In this way, the potential of digital methods for less environmentally impactful mobility is leveraged through Thuringian research and development. (jp)
